“No, I’m fine.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. Something in those blue eyes told her Teren wasn’t as fine as she said. But Alex decided it could wait. It had already been a long day.
She headed for the door, but stopped at the sound of her name.
“Yes, Teren?”
“Aren’t you going to stay with me?”
If Alex didn’t know better, she would have sworn the words came from a child. She swallowed the emotion down, and went back to the bedside.
“Yes, love, I’ll stay with you. I want to go over some papers that Gerd translated for me, and then I’ll be in, okay? You just rest now.”
Teren nodded, her eyes still closed. “You could read them in here.”
“No, the light would bother you. I know your head’s hurting pretty bad right now, and I don’t want to make it worse.”
Teren frowned, but nodded again. “‘Kay.”
It was just like dealing with a child, Alex decided, only one that was very large and could get under skin with a word or a look. Lying in the double bed, her head bandaged across the right side, Teren looked more like a child than an agent for the CIA. Alex was once again struck by the differences between the agent and the woman.
She spent another moment brushing her fingers across the forehead, then sighed. Teren had already slipped into sleep, and it wouldn’t matter now if she worked in here, or in the other room. Nodding, she decided, and headed into the living room to gather the sheets she’d been working on. Then she changed, and crawled in beside Teren.
A half hour later, the letter she’d been holding slipped from her hand as she fell asleep.
Chapter Thirty-four
It was late the next morning when Gerd knocked once again on the door to Alex and Teren’s suite.
To his surprise, it was Teren who answered the door.
“What in hell are you doing out of bed?”
“Opening the door for you, what does it look like?” She turned and made her way back to the couch. “Besides, I’ve been on the couch for the past couple hours.”
“Where’s Alex?”
“In the shower. She figured you’d be by soon. Something about files at the BKA?”
“Yes, the Bundeskriminalamt has taken charge of Eisenbein’s files, and they said Alex could go through them. I’ll be there as translator.”
Teren nodded. “Good. She’s excellent with research. Whether they’re in German or not, if there’s something in those records that we can use, she’ll find it.”
“How are you feeling, Teren?”
“Not bad. A headache and a little vertigo. You’d think I’d been shot in the head or something.” She grinned at him.
“You, my friend, must be a cat. You’ve got at least nine lives.” They both chuckled.
Teren waved him over to a chair. “Sit. Alex’ll be a few more minutes.”
Gerd looked thoughtful as he sat down. He leaned foward, his elbows on his knees, and Teren winced inwardly. That movement was always the signal that Gerd wanted to have a serious talk about personal things.
Something Teren avoided like the plague.
“Ter, Alex tells me the two of you have known each other only a couple of weeks.”
“Yeah. Been a strange couple weeks, too.” She smiled, but it faded when the serious look stayed on his face.
“She’s not an agent.”
“No.”
“How do you know you can really trust her?” Teren’s eyes narrowed, and Gerd held up his hands to stop her anger. “That’s not what I mean. I know you trust her, if you didn’t you wouldn’t have given her as much help, or as much access as you have.” A small nod from Teren let him relax enough to continue. “What I mean, though, is how can you really trust her to be your partner, when she’s your partner?”
One dark eyebrow raised as Teren just stared at him.
He wiped a hand over his brow. “I’m doing this badly, aren’t I?”
“You usually do. What are you trying to say, Gerd?”
Taking a deep breath the German looked up at her. “Are you sure you both can remain objective about things, seeing as how the two of you are lovers?”
The question made Teren’s eyes widen, and she took in a quick gasping breath. Her face registered pure shock, and for a moment, Gerd thought he might have misread their relationship. But her eyes dropped away from his, and her face began to turn red, telling him he hadn’t been imagining things.
She reflected for a moment on the rules which Perry had drilled into her. “Number one, never trust anyone, and number two, never fall in love with your partner. If that happens, it’s time to get a new partner — or just plain get out.”
“It’s not like it was planned, Gerd,” she said softly. “And I don’t know what we are. Lovers, partners? We’re friends, and —” she shrugged, “yeah, we’ve slept together. But does that make us lovers? Or just — I hate the term — fuck buddies?”
Gerd shook his head. “You may not know what the two of you are, Teren, but that young woman does, most definitely.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, my first clue was when she threatened to shoot me at the cemetery, if I didn’t promise to help the both of you.”
“Alex did that?”
“Yes. Clue number two was when she refused to leave your side, and insisted that she would be the one to wake you up when it needed to be done.”
Teren bit her lip.
“Number three was the way she whispered into your ear. And did you notice that she’s called you ‘love’ a few times?”
Teren winced. Alex had done that just last night, and she hadn’t even thought about it.
“We admitted early on that there was an attraction between us, but we both agreed to put off exploring it until after we’re out of this funhouse of a case.” She sighed. “We’ve kind of thrown that agreement out the window.”
“What agreement?” asked Alex as she came out of the bedroom. “Morning, Gerd. Let me grab my jacket and briefcase, and we’re out of here.” She turned back to Teren. “What agreement?”
With her mouth hanging open, Teren looked at Gerd for some help, but he had turned away. She glanced at Alex to find the curious green eyes still on her.
“Um. The agreement we — um —” she stopped and ran her hand across her head, careful to miss the area covered by bandages. “Alex, can we talk about this later?”
Alex narrowed her eyes, wondering what Teren was suddenly so embarrassed about. She decided to let it go. After all, Teren wasn’t going anywhere, and she’d be back soon. They could talk this evening.
“Okay. Later it is.” She pulled her coat off the rack and slid it on.
“Hey, why aren’t you wearing your dark green jacket?” Teren asked. “It’s warmer than that one, and it’s cold outside.”
Alex’s cheeks turned red as she zipped the front closed. “That, um, was the jacket I was wearing in the cemetery, and — well, it’s — I decided to throw it away.”
Teren looked confused. “Why?”
Gerd decided to rescue the younger woman. “Teren, Alex wrapped her coat around your head, to try and stop the bleeding.”
Recognition dawned, as Teren’s eyes widened. She swallowed, and switched her gaze to her blonde partner, who was looking at the floor.
“I’m sorry, Alex.”
She got a shrug in return, then Alex came over to the couch.
“No big deal. It’s just a jacket.” Leaning down, Alex gave Teren a quick hug, and then pulled away. “You will not move from that couch, right?”
“Right.”
“You will buzz for someone if you need anything?”
“Yes, Mom.”
Alex put her hands on her hips and glared at her. “I’m serious, Teren.”
Teren sighed and let her head drop gently to the back of the couch. “I’ll call for help if I need anything. You already made arrangements for lunch, and the doctor’s coming over right after that. I’ll be a perfect angel, I swear. Now, get out of here, and let me go back to sleep.”
Nodding, Alex headed for the door. “I’ll see you this evening, then.”
Gerd waved a hand at his friend, and held the door open for Alex. He looked back for a moment, and raised both his eyebrows at Teren. Then the door closed, and the room was silent.